Page 74 of Mountain Void

“Thank you,” Charlie said to Beau, her voice barely above a whisper. Beau hadn’t hesitated for an instant when she’d called him.

Beau gave a small nod.

“Are you sure you’re both okay?” Ry asked. “We could make another cup of tea.”

Lorenz shook his head, speaking for the first time. “We’re good, thank you. Charlie and I … we just need to talk.”

It took a few minutes, but eventually the three of them left. Charlie’s legs shook so badly, she had to sit back down at the kitchen table to hide it. Lorenz chose to stand in front of her.

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“Don’t,” Lorenz replied, his expression cold.

Tears rose to Charlie’s eyes again. “I don’t know what you want me to say …”

“I need you to answer my questions. Do you think you can do that?”

Charlie nodded.

“You …” Lorenz licked his chapped lips. “You thought I wouldn’t want you?”

She frowned slightly, thrown by the question.

His hand moved closer, but he stopped just short of touching her.

“You thought I wouldn’t want you, if you couldn’t have children?” he repeated. “All this time, that’s what you’ve been thinking?”

“Lorenz, please don’t make this harder than it has to be. I already said I was sorry. I know I should have told you the truth.”

“You should have,” he agreed, and there was something raw in his voice. “You should have given me the chance to decide what mattered to me.”

A flicker of pain crossed his face.

“I know you would have stayed with me, Lorenz. I know that, because that’s the kind of man you are. But you would have missed out on something I know you desperately wanted. Kids. A family.”

Lorenz exhaled slowly. “And have you wondered, over the last weeks, why I don’t have kids? A wife? A family?” he asked. “Have you wondered?”

Charlie gave a small, sad smile.

“I have. I have wondered … An ugly, small part of me was even glad you hadn’t married again. But that’s wrong, Lorenz. I love you. And that’s why I have to stop this—whatever this is between us. Because you deserve more.”

“You love me.”

She faltered. Out of everything she’d said, he had to latch on to this. “You … you know what I mean. We were married. Of course I—“

“No,” he said, more firmly. “That’s not what you meant.”

Lorenz

Lorenz took a deep breath.

He wasn’t sure of much, but at this exact moment he knew his future—his entire life—depended on his being able to stay in control over the next few minutes.

“Stop,” Charlie begged.

He wasn’t going to stop. He wasn’t going to stay quiet anymore. He’d done that six years earlier, and it’d gotten him nowhere. Now, he was going to get it all out into the open. “You didn’t say you loved me. You said you love me.”

Her throat moved again. Her eyes looked away from him.